how much do you feed puff-puff??

[Snowgrrl83]

Alright, so I have a common redeye puffer (avocado puffer) in a 7 gallon tank by himself. He LOVES food. When I initially bought him at the small local non-chain petstore the woman told me that he would only eat when he was hungry...that he liked menows, ghost shrimp and meal worms. I therefore bought 4 menows, 5 ghost shrimp and 100 meal worms to go through over a months worth of food. I then put in 2 menows in the tank with 2 ghost shrimp and he ate em in less than 60 seconds. I then put 2 other menows and the rest of the ghost shrimp thinking he probably won't eat them until the next day..... was i ever wrong.... Here was my puffer fish fatter than a stuffed turkey waddling around my seven gallon tank. I didnt feed him any worms for the next 3 days and siffoned the tank the next day...

My question is... how much do you feed your vicious little thing???? What do you feed him??? He always looks hungry. Ive been feeding him 2 small meal worms a day since... but he still chases my fingers when i try to test the water... in fact, when i feed him, i just put a meal worm in my lil fish-catching net and he swims right in there without fear to eat the worm...

Well, I guess its a good thing if he is eating!! Ive been reading about people having trouble to get their puff-puffs to eat...

Another question.... he occasionally puffs up when it seems like he's looking at himself on a certain side of the tank... is that normal???

 

[LittlePuff]

Stop giving him minnows, they aren' good for him. Feed him bloodworms, shrimp, krill, and snails. He will need hard, crunchy food to prevent his teeth from overgrowing (the alternative is trimming them yourself) I don't know about mealworms, I've never heard not to feed them, so they're most likely fine. The snails you need are pond snails. They often come with live plants. Ask for some from your LFS. They are considered pests and they throw them away. Get a small tank to breed them or add them to another freshwater tank. Feed them anything you would feed tropical fish (flake, tablets, etc..)

Feed your puff once a day (or fewer) until his belly gets rounded (not almost splitting his seams) All fish (especially puffers) will act like they are always hungry. Put him on a regular schedule, he will be healthier.

Lots of puffers practice puffing, it's normal.

HTH,
Kim

 

[Snowgrrl83]

I recently tried feeding him small pond snails and rahmshorn baby snails. He didnt eat them... and the snails all died.... humm.. is there something wrong with my water if they died...i did have salt in there because i was cycling the tank not too long ago...but Ive been doing some freshwater-only changes since.

I think ghost shrimp are the best for him.. he'll eat anything that moves spontaniously. I read that avocado puffers ate meal worms... I havent seen anything about other kinds of puffers eating them though. I havent fed him any menows since... any idea when menows aren't good for them??? He tends to chew on the gravel sometimes too.... he'll swim around with a little rock between his 2 lips once in a while... he's quite the character... he'll also chase my finger along the glass.

 

[RTR]

Ghost shrimp are not enough to keep the teeth worn down. If that is your staple diet (not a good idea IMHO) be prepared to do dentistry regularly, trimming the teeth. Puffers are quite easily trained to new foods and once they learn that it is food you will have fewer issues.